One day after the Supreme Court refused to hear Donald Trump's appeal of a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation verdict, E. Jean Carroll's legal team filed motions in Manhattan federal court demanding the president pay up, and asking the judge to cut his response time in half.
The filings, submitted Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seek payment of the original $5 million jury award plus $779,783 in accumulated interest, bringing the total to nearly $5.8 million. Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan also asked U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to force Trump's lawyers to respond within seven days, by July 7, 2026, rather than the standard fourteen.
The move came after Trump's legal team contacted Carroll's counsel within minutes of the Supreme Court's Monday denial, requesting more time to seek reconsideration. Carroll's side refused.
Carroll's attorneys made clear in their filing that their patience has run out. As the Washington Examiner reported, the legal team declared the era of cooperation over.
"To date, Carroll has agreed to each of Defendant's many requests to delay the payment he owes her. Given the extraordinary lengths he has taken to avoid such payments and that each of those efforts has been denied in full, that cooperation ends today. It is time for him to pay Carroll."
That language, attributed to Kaplan and co-counsel D. Brandon Trice and Maximilian T. Crema, frames the filing as a final demand after what they described as four years of litigation spanning every level of the federal court system.
In a separate filing, Kaplan asked the judge to accelerate the disbursement schedule. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, no relation to Carroll's attorney, agreed to address the payout request on an expedited basis, setting the July 7 deadline for Trump's response.
The sequence of events Monday tells its own story. The Supreme Court issued its denial. Trump posted on Truth Social. And then, according to court filings, his lawyers reached out to Carroll's team asking for a delay in the disbursement request, time, they said, to ask the high court to reconsider.
Carroll's counsel said no.
Trump has maintained he is innocent and has characterized the case as politically motivated. After the Supreme Court's rejection, the president posted on Truth Social, vowing to press on. As we previously reported on Trump's response to the ruling, his language was combative.
"Surprisingly, the Supreme Court declined to review a Fake Case brought against me by a woman I never met."
He also promised to "continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength."
Trump's legal team had earlier argued in a January filing that the case was a distraction from the duties of the presidency. His attorneys wrote that "it is deeply damaging to the fabric of our republic for President Trump, in the midst of a historic presidency, to have to take his focus away from his singular and unique duties as chief executive," as the New York Post reported.
That argument did not persuade the justices. The Supreme Court declined to take up the case without explanation.
The underlying verdict dates to May 2023, when a Manhattan federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation over statements he made about Carroll's claims. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million. Trump sought a new trial, but Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected that bid in a 59-page decision.
The judge dismissed Trump's arguments to reduce damages below $1 million, writing that the verdict was neither a "seriously erroneous result" nor a "miscarriage of justice," as the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Carroll also won a second defamation lawsuit against Trump, which resulted in an $83.3 million verdict in January 2024. That case remains under appeal in lower courts and is not part of the current disbursement fight.
The Supreme Court has not shied from ruling against the president this term. But the Carroll case stands apart from policy disputes. It is a civil judgment arising from a jury trial, and the high court's refusal to review it leaves Trump with no further appellate options on the $5 million award.
The ball now sits with Trump's legal team, which has until July 7 to respond to Carroll's disbursement motion. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has not yet ruled on the underlying request to order payment, but the expedited timeline signals the court sees no reason for extended delay.
The court filings reference a prior "Stipulation and Order" under which Carroll is entitled to obtain payment once appellate options are exhausted. With the Supreme Court's denial, Carroll's attorneys argue that threshold has been met.
Several questions remain unanswered. Whether Trump's team will file a formal motion to delay disbursement, rather than the informal counsel-to-counsel request that Carroll's side already rejected, is unclear. Whether the court would entertain any further procedural maneuvers at this stage is also an open question, though the filing history suggests limited appetite for more delay.
The Supreme Court's recent term has produced consequential rulings across multiple areas of law, from executive authority to campaign finance to First Amendment protections. The Carroll case, however, is not a constitutional question about presidential power. It is a civil damages judgment that has now survived every available appeal.
Trump's characterization of the case as "weaponization" and "lawfare" resonates with millions of his supporters who have watched a sitting president face an extraordinary volume of legal challenges. And there are legitimate questions about the political motivations of some who have pursued legal action against Trump over the years.
But this particular case went to a jury. The jury rendered a verdict. A federal judge upheld it. An appellate court upheld it. And now the Supreme Court has declined to intervene. At some point, the legal process has spoken, and the judgment is owed.
Trump's team asked for more time after every door closed. Carroll's lawyers said no. The court set a seven-day clock. Nearly $5.8 million hangs in the balance.
Whatever one thinks of the underlying case, the legal system has rendered its judgment. The question now is not whether Trump agrees with the verdict, it is whether he will comply with it.